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AVAC's Blog: P-Values

The Black lives of AVAC’s staff, partners and friends matter. The Black lives of those who live near our office in Harlem matter. The Black lives of those on the streets across the United States and around the world calling for justice and equity matter. It’s more important than ever to say these fundamental truths.

The AVAC team is united in sorrow and anger at the inequities that are being laid bare in America today. We advocate every day for an equitable HIV response, but we know that we can’t stop there. We stand with those who are calling for a more just and equitable world.

We have the benefit of history to provide a clear vision of what must happen with COVID-19. We stand on the shoulders of giants in the fight against HIV who never took “no” for an answer: advocates who demanded a vaccine because they knew their lives depended on it. At the same time, they acted as if a vaccine would never arrive, thereby accelerating the development and delivery of safe and effective treatment and prevention options.

In this time of COVID-19, new information and new questions arise daily with implications for global health advocacy and for the HIV response at large. In the midst of this, HIV research has taken some major steps forward as well. AVAC has produced a number resources to keep you informed and guide your advocacy on all these issues.

We are writing with breaking PrEP news—data now show that bi-monthly injections of long-acting cabotegravir (CAB-LA) appears to be safe and effective in preventing HIV in cisgender men and transgender women who have sex with men.

This HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD), May 18, 2020, is like no other before. HIV and COVID-19 each present a vivid picture of the need for the vaccine enterprise. A durable, sustainable end to any epidemic depends on a vaccine. HVAD is a day to call attention to the still-urgent need for an HIV vaccine, take stock of progress, recognize the incalculable contributions of trial participants and researchers—and, this year, to explain how work in HIV has created the foundation for the unprecedented speed of COVID-19 vaccine development.